The EPA, which conducted its inspection between June 20 and June 29, found that much of the village’s storm water infrastructure is in poor condition and in need of upgrades or repairs. In addition, the report also found several catch basins and recharge basins within the village boundaries were clogged with sediment, preventing them from operating correctly.

As a result, the EPA has mandated that the Village of Northport must take meaningful steps over the next six months to come into compliance with the Clean Water Act, including developing and implementing a storm water management program and implementing a program to detect and address non-storm water discharges affecting the cleanliness of Northport Harbor and the surrounding waters.

This isn’t the first time Northport has been called out for its water woes.

For the past four years, the village has been the epicenter of the red tide phenomenon on Long Island. Northport Harbor’s toxin levels are the highest recorded locally, due to annual algal blooms. High amounts of nitrogen have been found in the harbor with extremely high concentrations around outflow pipes from the village’s sewage treatment plant. Toxins from algae that feed on nitrogen have been shown to poison shellfish, sickening those who consume the affected fish in large amounts. As a result, beaches around Northport Harbor have experienced more closures than anywhere else on the Island, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has issued numerous shellfish closures during that time period.

A Long Island Sound Study, conducted in the 1990s, set three benchmark dates for facilities to come into compliance – 2004, 2009 and 2014. While Northport’s sewage treatment plant is in compliance with 2009’s standards, facility upgrades costing $9 million are required to meet the 2014 standard of cutting nitrogen levels in the Sound by 50 percent.